ArticlePloS one2016
Psychological Profiles in the Prediction of Leukocyte Telomere Length in Healthy Individuals.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Exploring the association between depression and telomere length: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Body mass index is negatively associated with telomere length: a collaborative cross-sectional meta-analysis of 87 observational studies.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2018Pooled it
- Association between telomere length and psychiatric disorders: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Associations among temperament characteristics and telomere length and attrition rate in early childhood.Developmental psychology · 2024Article
- Childhood maltreatment and leukocyte telomere length in men and women with chronic illness: an evaluation of moderating and mediating influences.Psychological medicine · 2023Article
- Longer Leukocyte Telomere Length Predicts Stronger Response to a Workplace Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Sales Ban: An Exploratory Study.Current developments in nutrition · 2021Article
- The associations of hostility and defensiveness with telomere length are influenced by sex and health status.Biology of sex differences · 2021Article
- The relation of telomere length at midlife to subsequent 20-year depression trajectories among women.Depression and anxiety · 2019Article
- Applying the New Teaching Methodologies in Youth Football Players: Toward a Healthier Sport.Frontiers in physiology · 2019Article
- Epigenetics of Subcellular Structure Functioning in the Origin of Risk or Resilience to Comorbidity of Neuropsychiatric and Cardiometabolic Disorders.International journal of molecular sciences · 2018Review
- Stress, Telomeres, and Psychopathology: Toward a Deeper Understanding of a Triad of Early Aging.Annual review of clinical psychology · 2018Review
- The fetal programming of telomere biology hypothesis: an update.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Review
- Physical activity and telomere length: Impact of aging and potential mechanisms of action.Oncotarget · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundShorter telomere length (TL) may signal premature cellular aging and increased risk for disease. While depression and psychosocial stress have been associated with shorter telomeres, other psychological risk factors for cardiovascular disease have received less attention. PURPOSE: To evaluate the association between TL and psychological risk factors (symptoms of anxiety and depression, hostility and defensiveness traits) for heart disease, and to examine whether chronological age and sex moderate the associations observed.
methods132 healthy men and women (Mage = 45.34 years) completed the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory II, The Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale. Relative TL was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of total genomic DNA samples. A series of hierarchical linear regressions were performed controlling for pertinent covariates.
resultsShorter TL was observed among individuals high in defensiveness (β = -.221) and depressive symptoms (β = -.213), as well as in those with less hostility (β =.256) and anxiety (β =.220)(all Ps<.05). Psychological variables explained 19% of the variance over and above that explained by covariates (age, sex, exercise, alcohol consumption, systemic inflammation, and 24-hr mean arterial pressure). Age moderated the relation between TL and defensiveness (β =.179, p =.03). Sex did not influence any of the relations.
conclusionsTelomere length is associated with psychological burden though the direction of effect differs depending on the psychological variables under study. Further research is needed to determine the reasons for and implications of these seemingly contradictory findings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.